Nico's retiring?

Wall-e wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: But now's your chance. There's a seat available at Mercedes.

Im putting my resume together now. ... Years of experience being paid good money by throngs of people to sit behind the wheel of very expensive turbocharged machines...

I'll crew for you. We can move Team Dumpster Fire from stage rally to endurance racing.

fidelity101 wrote: Basically they pay you to not have a life.

Any of us coming from a job where they don't pay you enough to have a life will feel right at home

Well Schumacher retired from racing (one of the most dangerous sports out there) and look what happened to him. I'd say stay in racing. It saves lives.

The post race show on SKY had a cameraman following Nico, wife and manager. As the crowd got a bit bigger, wife started to get shuffled. When he realized she wasn't on his arm anymore, he stopped and drew her back to his side before continuing. A small thing, but a thing none the less.

He's gone as far, and climbed as high as he needs.

So...LeMans for sure, I say. Indycar in 2018?

Yes I think this is the best move for Nico. Coming into this year you could see how his wife and daughter were giving him more life than F1 could. More happiness and feeling whole. I also had a slight feeling that he maybe was able to have a better relationship with Lewis due to both seeming to be family centered.

I just hope that the dramatic change in his life does not cause him any issues. It can be very depressing to leave what you have known for over a decade. Even if the new situation is really better.

I guess also imagine the impact on these guys to be aware of M Schumacher's injury stealing his life away or Jules' unfortunate death.

He was already wealthy. Doing his racing thing was fun and it mattered a lot to him but that phase is gone. I hope he goes off enjoys being off line with no more contact with F1 after his PR commitments are finished for MB.

fidelity101 wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Rusnak_322 wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to Rusnak_322: If I had to race every week, it would be work, just like any other job. I'd be looking forward to vacations and retirement.

Not me. I road raced motorcycles for a decade and did 17 weekends one season, that included track days and racing from Michigan to Alabama and Florida, based out of Cleveland Ohio.

Not to dismiss your obvious dedication, but that's nothing compared to running F1 even allowing for your work and school. Those guys are amongst the fittest athletes on the planet. Beyond the 21 races there is testing, simulator work, hours in the gym every day. Sponsor, media, team and sport related appearances etc. Not feeling sorry for them, or demeaning your dedication which was way higher than mine ever is/was. But these guys have lived Formula one 24/7/365 since they were six years old. NOTE. They took Feb 29th off each leap year hence it's not 24/7/365.25

Basically they pay you to not have a life.

Hard to feel sorry for someone who was raised in Monaco that has to race 20 weekends a year. And play on a race simulator when not doing that. And then going to parties for sponsors and doing photoshoots. Plus they have the winter off and a month in summer!

If the workload is the reason (I don’t think that it is with Nico) then boo-fricken-hoo!

Seriously. They have a team of assistants that handle all aspects of life for them, from making travel arrangements (private jets and helicopter rides from the track to the hotel) to private chef’s and trainers. You don’t think they have a life? Ever follow Lewis Hamilton between races? The guy is everywhere partying.

You guys really got to get over F1 drivers. Is driving the car easy? No, is it THAT hard? I look at athletes like chad reed in supercross who raced with a freshly broken collarbone and say F1 drivers have it easy comparison.

From reading the facebook post, I think that the stress of the championship caused Nico to change and he didn’t like who he was becoming and decided to stop. If that is true, good for him. Lots of people (probably me) wouldn’t have had the insight and ruined their off track lives to further their career.

I don't know crap about this guy or his career, but i did notice his age and I feel pretty confident saying that it's a great age to retire from a physically demanding career. I'm a little strange by some standards but noticing the slowing of things like my eyes shifting focus or adapting to lighting changes, and the general dulling of my situational awareness in vehicles is borderline depressing even though my first-world job and life don't depend on it and i'm still a damn sight sharper than most of the tools i see driving in this corner of the shed. If I didn't see myself accomplishing anything further i'd rather step away from grace than fall from it ungracefully. That (this) age is midlife-crisis age for the very physically aware.

I still feel there's some kind of other offer sitting there for him that we'll hear about soon. Other than that I just can't fathom it.

Not to say there's much comparison, but I've found that I tend to over do things I like and then suddenly one day "I'm over it", quit and never look back.

Rusnak_322 wrote:

fidelity101 wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Rusnak_322 wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to Rusnak_322: If I had to race every week, it would be work, just like any other job. I'd be looking forward to vacations and retirement.

Not me. I road raced motorcycles for a decade and did 17 weekends one season, that included track days and racing from Michigan to Alabama and Florida, based out of Cleveland Ohio.

Not to dismiss your obvious dedication, but that's nothing compared to running F1 even allowing for your work and school. Those guys are amongst the fittest athletes on the planet. Beyond the 21 races there is testing, simulator work, hours in the gym every day. Sponsor, media, team and sport related appearances etc. Not feeling sorry for them, or demeaning your dedication which was way higher than mine ever is/was. But these guys have lived Formula one 24/7/365 since they were six years old. NOTE. They took Feb 29th off each leap year hence it's not 24/7/365.25

Basically they pay you to not have a life.

Hard to feel sorry for someone who was raised in Monaco that has to race 20 weekends a year. And play on a race simulator when not doing that. And then going to parties for sponsors and doing photoshoots. Plus they have the winter off and a month in summer! If the workload is the reason (I don’t think that it is with Nico) then boo-fricken-hoo! Seriously. They have a team of assistants that handle all aspects of life for them, from making travel arrangements (private jets and helicopter rides from the track to the hotel) to private chef’s and trainers. You don’t think they have a life? Ever follow Lewis Hamilton between races? The guy is everywhere partying. You guys really got to get over F1 drivers. Is driving the car easy? No, is it THAT hard? I look at athletes like chad reed in supercross who raced with a freshly broken collarbone and say F1 drivers have it easy comparison. From reading the facebook post, I think that the stress of the championship caused Nico to change and he didn’t like who he was becoming and decided to stop. If that is true, good for him. Lots of people (probably me) wouldn’t have had the insight and ruined their off track lives to further their career.

You were fit enough you could maintain a 190 beat per minute heart rate for two hours? I doubt it. These guys do. Motorcycles get NOWHERE NEAR 5gs in cornering or braking like F1 cars do.

Not to mention, the mental acuity to constantly be toggling through menus, adjusting different settings.......none of which you do on a sport bike.

Sorry, chief, you're just a legend in your own mind.

Hammy's comments on this show how much of an ass he is. What little respect I had for him is now gone.

GameboyRMH wrote:

Rusnak_322 wrote: Does not compute. Someone is walking away from getting paid many tens of millions of dollars a year to do what many of us would (and do) empty our bank accounts to do for an afternoon.

Driving those cars at competitive speed isn't fun, it's hard work and kind of scary. Except to Kimi Raikkonen, he thinks it's fun Anyway, Nico can do whatever kind of racing he likes in his free time now without having to be on a strict diet and training regimen and travelling all over the place etc. for F1. I suspect he'll pick something without so many complicated buttons and dials

If he ever decided to go amateur Spec series racing we would probably witness an entire starting grid simply pack up and go home. He could win by default!

Word on the street is that Nico retired from F1 so he could enter the $2017 Challenge.

Driven5 wrote: Word on the street is that Nico quit F1 so he could enter the $2017 Challenge.

I'm pretty sure you're not going to get an F1 W06 Hybrid down to $2017 by selling off parts. :)

Like many pro athletes the most wearing aspects of the job are not necessarily pertaining to the actual work. For these guys, they're waking up in a different time zone almost every week of the season. Sometimes it's half a dozen time zones or more. Let's not forget testing, personal appearances, meetings at HQ, etc. It's hard to be your best in a high level occupation if your body thinks it should be sleeping when you're screaming along at 200 mph. Remember, he can't just show up for this job and stroke it if he's having a bad day. There's the whole imminent death thing.

markwemple wrote: Hammy's comments on this show how much of an ass he is. What little respect I had for him is now gone.

You are going to have to show me these quotes. Everything I saw was completely respectful. All I saw bad was The Sun had a headline that had nothing at all to do with the story under it...

markwemple wrote: Hammy's comments on this show how much of an ass he is. What little respect I had for him is now gone.

I'm sure Lewis will be crushed by the loss of your very tiny support.

z31maniac wrote:

Rusnak_322 wrote:

fidelity101 wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Rusnak_322 wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to Rusnak_322: If I had to race every week, it would be work, just like any other job. I'd be looking forward to vacations and retirement.

Not me. I road raced motorcycles for a decade and did 17 weekends one season, that included track days and racing from Michigan to Alabama and Florida, based out of Cleveland Ohio.

Not to dismiss your obvious dedication, but that's nothing compared to running F1 even allowing for your work and school. Those guys are amongst the fittest athletes on the planet. Beyond the 21 races there is testing, simulator work, hours in the gym every day. Sponsor, media, team and sport related appearances etc. Not feeling sorry for them, or demeaning your dedication which was way higher than mine ever is/was. But these guys have lived Formula one 24/7/365 since they were six years old. NOTE. They took Feb 29th off each leap year hence it's not 24/7/365.25

Basically they pay you to not have a life.

Hard to feel sorry for someone who was raised in Monaco that has to race 20 weekends a year. And play on a race simulator when not doing that. And then going to parties for sponsors and doing photoshoots. Plus they have the winter off and a month in summer! If the workload is the reason (I don’t think that it is with Nico) then boo-fricken-hoo! Seriously. They have a team of assistants that handle all aspects of life for them, from making travel arrangements (private jets and helicopter rides from the track to the hotel) to private chef’s and trainers. You don’t think they have a life? Ever follow Lewis Hamilton between races? The guy is everywhere partying. You guys really got to get over F1 drivers. Is driving the car easy? No, is it THAT hard? I look at athletes like chad reed in supercross who raced with a freshly broken collarbone and say F1 drivers have it easy comparison. From reading the facebook post, I think that the stress of the championship caused Nico to change and he didn’t like who he was becoming and decided to stop. If that is true, good for him. Lots of people (probably me) wouldn’t have had the insight and ruined their off track lives to further their career.

You were fit enough you could maintain a 190 beat per minute heart rate for two hours? I doubt it. These guys do. Motorcycles get NOWHERE NEAR 5gs in cornering or braking like F1 cars do. Not to mention, the mental acuity to constantly be toggling through menus, adjusting different settings.......none of which you do on a sport bike. Sorry, chief, you're just a legend in your own mind.

I don't get where people think that high g loading requires such extensive physical out put that makes these guys superheroes.

Go race a indoor kart race. After your first 12 min race you will be winded and sore. Do three or four races that day and by the end you are nowhere near as tired as you were after the first race.

Do it every week for a few months and you will barely notice the strain.

When I first started racing I was beat after a 8 lap race. Then I was doing 20 lap enduros and finally 45 min endurance stints and get off feeling fine. You build up the muscles and stamina.

Ever see how thick their necks are? Sure I can't do it because I have not been conditioning to do it for years, but it really isn't anything remarkable. Hell, 1/2 of the grid looks less like they are in shape and more like they are starving themselves.

There are people out there that really work for a living. Way more hours and higher danger levels. And there are athletes out there that push their bodies way beyond what a F1 driver does for their sport.

Racing in F1 is not easy, but let's get real, they live dream lives even if you take away the money and fame.

Rusnak_322 wrote:

fidelity101 wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Rusnak_322 wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to Rusnak_322: If I had to race every week, it would be work, just like any other job. I'd be looking forward to vacations and retirement.

Not me. I road raced motorcycles for a decade and did 17 weekends one season, that included track days and racing from Michigan to Alabama and Florida, based out of Cleveland Ohio.

Not to dismiss your obvious dedication, but that's nothing compared to running F1 even allowing for your work and school. Those guys are amongst the fittest athletes on the planet. Beyond the 21 races there is testing, simulator work, hours in the gym every day. Sponsor, media, team and sport related appearances etc. Not feeling sorry for them, or demeaning your dedication which was way higher than mine ever is/was. But these guys have lived Formula one 24/7/365 since they were six years old. NOTE. They took Feb 29th off each leap year hence it's not 24/7/365.25

Basically they pay you to not have a life.

Hard to feel sorry for someone who was raised in Monaco that has to race 20 weekends a year. And play on a race simulator when not doing that. And then going to parties for sponsors and doing photoshoots. Plus they have the winter off and a month in summer! If the workload is the reason (I don’t think that it is with Nico) then boo-fricken-hoo! Seriously. They have a team of assistants that handle all aspects of life for them, from making travel arrangements (private jets and helicopter rides from the track to the hotel) to private chef’s and trainers. You don’t think they have a life? Ever follow Lewis Hamilton between races? The guy is everywhere partying. You guys really got to get over F1 drivers. Is driving the car easy? No, is it THAT hard? I look at athletes like chad reed in supercross who raced with a freshly broken collarbone and say F1 drivers have it easy comparison. From reading the facebook post, I think that the stress of the championship caused Nico to change and he didn’t like who he was becoming and decided to stop. If that is true, good for him. Lots of people (probably me) wouldn’t have had the insight and ruined their off track lives to further their career.

Kinda surprising that somebody that has some proper club racing experience doesn't understand how professional racing can be a serious commitment. I'm gonna guess that you don't understand the pressure of living up to media, sponsors and your own expectations week in and week out. When somebody is paying you millions to "play", as you say, the game becomes much different.

Streetwiseguy wrote:

markwemple wrote: Hammy's comments on this show how much of an ass he is. What little respect I had for him is now gone.

You are going to have to show me these quotes. Everything I saw was completely respectful. All I saw bad was The Sun had a headline that had nothing at all to do with the story under it...

VIENNA, Austria -- Unlike the rest of the motorsport community, Lewis Hamilton says he was not surprised by his teammate Nico Rosberg's decision to retire from Formula One after winning the title this year.

In a shock announcement at the FIA prize giving ceremony on Friday, Rosberg made the news public in a press conference ahead of the main event. After losing out in title battles to Hamilton in 2014 and 2015, Rosberg said part of the reason behind his decision was the feeling he had after finally securing the title in 2016.

But Hamilton, who spoke in Vienna after Rosberg's announcement, said he had seen it coming.

"The sport will miss him and I'm sure it was a surprise for many people," he said. "I'm probably one of the only people it was not a surprise to, but that's because I have known him for a long, long time. But this is motor racing."

Hamilton and Rosberg started karting together in their early teens and have followed similar career trajectories before being matched as teammates in F1 at Mercedes in 2013.

Asked if he would miss the rivalry, Hamilton added: "Well, this is the first time he has won in 18 years, hence why it's not a surprise that he decided to stop. But also he's got a family to focus on and probably wants to have more children and Formula One takes up so much of your time.

"In terms of missing the rivalry, of course [I will]. We started out when we were 13 and we would always talk about being champions and when I joined this team Nico was there -- again which was something we talked about when we were kids. It's definitely going to be very strange and for sure I will be sad not to have him in the team next year."

Hamilton had talked about his desire to beat Rosberg in a straight fight next year, but the announcement means he will now be paired with a new teammate.

"Of course it is a shame that he won't allow me to fight it to take it back, but that was his choice and I respect his decision -- go out on top while you can. I have a different viewpoint. I won the championship the last two years and I gave an opportunity each year to have another shot for someone.

"That is genuinely how I am and I consistently believe in my ability and what I can do each year. Even if I was to win again most likely I'd like to get another opportunity. I like being challenged by different competitors, but again we have been racing for 18 years so it's not the worst scenario."

http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/lewis-hamilton-not-surprised-nico-rosberg-retirement

“The sport will miss him, but I wish him all the best," Hamilton said. "I’m sure it was a surprise to many people. I’m probably one of the many people that it was not a surprise for, but that’s because I’ve known him for a long, long time. But this is motor racing.

"This is the first time he's won in 18 years, hence why it was not a surprise that he decided to stop. But he's also got a family to focus on and probably wants to have more children. Formula 1 takes up so much of your time.

Read more: http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/lewis-hamilton-not-surprised-nico-rosberg-retirement#ixzz4RjL7jm3E

There's no job someone would be willing to pay me to do that I wouldn't want to retire from .

What if he's going to be the next driver for the Grand Tour...

So what was wrong with what Lewis said?

In reply to EastCoastMojo:

Some say he's Mike Skinner's Finnish cousin....